


Full Fathom Five

by grimmauxillatrix



Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Flushed Romance | Matesprits, M/M, Multi, Pale Romance | Moirallegiance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-23
Updated: 2013-11-23
Packaged: 2018-01-02 10:25:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1055674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grimmauxillatrix/pseuds/grimmauxillatrix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Moving into a new base, the Team finds an interesting creature living in the water. What is it, really? Why is it there? Who made it? Will uncovering the mysteries of the creature uncover something worse?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Full Fathom Five

**Author's Note:**

> *Commence attempt at completing a multi-chapter fic with a plot*
> 
> Thank you Catter for beta reading.

The first they'd heard of it was when the Scout had gone down to investigate the underground tunnels of their new base. He'd come out, screaming that there was a monster down there,  a flesh-eating creature of death. Most of the team had scoffed, Spy openly mocking such foolish fantasies. But Demoman, of all people, rubbed his chin, looking unusually thoughtful.  As the team began to disperse to examine their new home, the Scot caught Sniper's elbow and pulled him aside.

"I heard ye hunted big game in the outback," Demo grins, ignoring Sniper's futile attempts at pulling away.

"Yeh, wot about it?" Sniper retorted,still trying to pull his arm out of Demo's grasp.

"Well, I was thinkin’ we'd do some big game huntin’ here. Find us a monster."

Sniper found himself dragged into the tunnels, accompanied by the increasingly excited Demo. A kuri in one hand matched his team-mate's broadsword, and his other hand rested cautiously on the borrowed pistol in his borrowed holster.  To his surprise the underground tunnels were filled with water, narrow walkways leading deeper into the winding maze.

"D'ye think this is a sewer?" Demo asked, eye scanning the waters cautiously.

"Don't smell like it," Sniper murmured, feeling rather bored. He's grateful for the periodic writing on the walls, without which he suspects they'd soon be horribly lost.

The Demo's enthusiasm wore off after a good half hour of exploring, occasionally slipping into the water, and flinching at every echo and drip. Eventually he grumbled something about heading back, and the Sniper is all too happy to oblige him.

On the trip back they began to hear faint splashes, but only while they were moving. The first time the Sniper hissed a "Do you hear that?" they were met with complete silence. The Demo shook his head, but held his broadsword in a more ready grip. They continued onwards, and the Sniper's neck tingled, making him suspect unseen eyes. His instincts had never proved him wrong before, and he was unnerved to have no rationale for this feeling.

They were nearly back at the main hatch, the faint splashing having tapered off some time ago, when the Sniper looked down into the water. He squinted, trying to figure out what he had noticed. "Hey, mate," he nudges the Demo. "Do ya see faint lights in the water?"

"Whu-" The Demo interrupted himself with a yell as the water looked back at them, a head with wide eyes just noticeable beneath the surface. Before the Sniper could stop him, or even speak, the man plunges in with a roar, broadsword up in the air and swinging down. Something erupted out of the water to meet him, the Sniper knocked back into by some sort of muscular appendage as the creature grabbed the Demo and tried to pull him under. Steel flashed, catching the dim light, and there was an unearthly wail as the creature flinched back, trying to duck beneath the surface. Having none of that, the Demo roared back and grabbed it by the head- at least the Sniper thought that was its head, there were too many things in the way- and dragged it out onto the walkway, ignoring the tentacles wrapping around his arms and legs. The Sniper could see it now that it isn't splashing about, and his jaw drops. It was some sort of half-man, half octopus, or squid, thrashing about on the walkway and hissing, a deep gash in its side bleeding a dark purple-red.

"Now’s the end of yer terror, ye god-forsaken abomination!" The Demo raised his sword arm over the squirming thing, increasing its patently desperate attempts to get away from the man with a death grip on its hair.

"Oi! Oi!" The Sniper grabbed his wrist and yanked him away, narrowly avoiding being beheaded himself.

"What the hell do ye think yer doin?" The Demo roared, caught between the two and willing to have none of it.

"Don't kill it mate, it didn't do anything to provoke that."

"It attacked me!"

The Sniper yanked on his arm harder. "You attacked it, mate, I'm willing to bet it was just curious."

"Yeh, d'ye ken?" He shook the creature and it wailed pathetically again,its tentacles now thrashing noticeably weaker and more sluggishly.

"Mate, I hunted a lotta creatures a lot feistier than this one, and I can tell ya it didn't want any trouble. Let it go, will ya?"

The Demo's answer was cut short as the hatch ground itself open above them, and the creature went limp. The Medic poked his head in, silhouetted by the lights in the corridor.  "I heard some noise, vhat is- well well well, vhat have you caught?"

Both turned to the Medic, and shrugged. "Some kind of... octopus man, d'be my guess," the Sniper answered. The Medic nearly leapt down the stairs and adjusted his glasses in sudden enraptured fascination.

"Oh my goodness, zhis is exquisite!" He tutted at the Demo. "For goodness sake let zhe poor creature go, it is quite unconcious." As the Demo obliges the Medic darted back up the stairs, calling back "I'll get zhe gurney and ve vill take him to zhe infirmary! And for gods sake don't let him bleed out!"

Turning back to their catch, the Sniper got his first good look at the creature, now illuminated by the strong lights of the hallway. His top half wasindeed male, and possessed a rather striking face. The Demo stared down at him, anfrown wrinkling his features. As the squeaking of the approaching] gurney grew louder, the Scot murmured "May God have mercy on ye, ye poor bastard creature."

 

It took all three of their combined efforts to haul the creature up the stairs and onto the gurney. Even while unconscious the tentacles moved slightly, requiring the Sniper to wrangle them as they dragged it out of the tunnels lest they prove a problem. He couldn't help flinching when one wrapped around his arm, and the Demo gave him a "told you so" look as they dumped it onto the gurney. Pushing his glasses back up onto his nose, the Medic tutted at his grimy comrades. "Demo, you need to go take zhose wet clothes off at vonce, I vill not have you catching a cold. Sniper, vould you do me zhe honor of accompanying me to zhe infirmary vith your new friend?"

"He's not my friend!" The Australian protested, but found himself dragged along for the second time today, the Medic's arm cheerfully flung around his shoulders and the squeaking of the wheels momentarily drowned out by the boom of the hatch slamming shut behind them.

In the infirmary, they wrestled the octopus man onto the operating table, and the Medic restrained his wrists before looking around for something that could handle eight tentacles as long as they were tall. "Hmmm, I'd hate for somevone to get injured if he lashed out, but I have no idea vhat to do vis him." He hmmmed for a minute, but simply shrugged and walked over to the other end of the infirmary to hang his coat up. "Ve vill need to be careful, zhat’s all."

The Sniper stared, both in indignation and because he's never seen the man without the white coat on before. When the Medic turns he clears his throat. "Can I go now?"

"Of course not! I require your further presence, you are zhe only friend he has, and I do not doubt zhat your presence vill calm him." Ignoring Sniper's blustering protests, he switched on the operating lights over the table and pulled a stool over to perch on. "Come now, lets see vhat ve can learn."

Despite himself, the Sniper found himself leaning in. He'd always been fascinated by critters, and this was no different. He'd even caught it himself.  The Medic started at the head and worked his way down, careful fingers caressing the creature’s pointy nose and brushing its dark brown hair aside to tut thoughtfully. "Hmmm."

"What, doc?" The Sniper leaned in, and the Medic turned the creature’s head towards him.

"He has finned ears. And gills." He hooked his fingers into the purple-tinged gashes in the octopus man’s neck and lifts up, revealing bright purple-red tissue.

The Sniper gagged. "Oh for fuck’s sake doc be nice."

"I am being nice," The Medic retorts, but pulls his fingers out with a squelch. He continued downwards, tracing the speckles of blue and purple dotted along the creature’s skin down his neck and chest.  The Sniper watched the Medics hands with fascination how carefully long fingers examine each bruise and cut, occasionally prodding at a particularly nasty looking contusion. "Poor creature..." The Medic mused quietly, the Sniper shivering at the soft words. "He must have had a wretched time down zhere. Oh look! He has gills on his chest too!" There's a few more squelching noises and the Sniper groans, exquisitely and spine-tinglingly uncomfortable with seeing someone's skin just lifted up like that.

"Ach, zhe Demo has truly done a number on zhis poor man..." The Medic's fingers disappear into the long gash that cuts straight across the creature's side, starting just below his pecs and slicing directly between two of it’s gill slits, nicking both one on top and one on it’s bottom. "He got lucky with zhis vound…. It vill scar no matter vhat I do vis it, and I do not know if he vill breath properly..." He kicks his stool back and reaches over to pull a tray over, filled with shiny metal instruments.

"Oy! You can't just cut him open!" The Sniper leaned across the octopus man’s torso to fend the doctor off, meeting his affronted look.  "I only do exploratory surgery on villing subjects Herr Sniper! I do not intend to slice him open, but razher to sew him back together again!"

Abashed, the Sniper leans back and tried to brush the blood and ooze off his vest as the Medic prepared his needles and pads of gauze and disinfectant. Instead of watching the man shove his fingers into the creature’s gills, the Sniper looked down at its hands. From the shoulder to a little bit above the elbow his arm looks normal, pale and speckled with little purple freckles. Then his skin faded rapidly into a darker shade of blue-purple, darkening until it looked like it was wearing long gloves of some slightly leathery material. Curious, the Sniper ran his fingers down the creature’s forearm and picked up its hand, examining the webbing between its fingers.

"Hey doc, look!" He undid the restraints and lifts its arm up. "It's got fins on its arms!" The Medic looked up as the Sniper carefully pulls the creature's arm fin out, and smiled, leaving a strange feeling in the Sniper's stomach.

"Good! I am glad you take such interest in anatomy!" He gave the Sniper an approving nod and went back to suturing the long gash, a little frown creasing his forehead as he concentrated. The Sniper watched until he brushed a lock of hair out of the octopus man’s face, returning to his own investigations with embarassed speed, attempting to find the exact join where man melded into octopus.  He couldn’t find it, and it frustrated him, searching for a seam or join somewhere around the creature’s waist or hips where normal flesh faded into dark purple-blue slick skin, even going as far as to lift him up slightly to check his back, hands trying to keep a firm grasp on its slick hips.

"Sniper, vhy are you looking at zhe creature's arsch?"

The Sniper started and let go with a yelp, the tentacles thudding back to the gurney and floor with a squelch. "Oi... fuck, I'm just trying to figure out where his bits connect!"

The Medic laughed and finished up his stitches.  "Fascinating, isn't it! He does not appear to have been fused together, but rather to be a very well created hybrid!" He set the scissors back down onto the tray and joined the Sniper by the creature’s lower half, gloved hands squeaking along the slimy flesh as he pushed the tentacles apart to examine further. Not deterred by his embarrassment, the Sniper leaned in again, curious. "Huh, he has webbing here too…" The Sniper tried to touch it, but the Medic pushed it back before he could, holding two tentacles out of the way to get a look at its underside. "Mmmhmm, it is called a mantle... oh, look, zhere's his squidhole."

The Sniper choked, turning a bright red. "His wot?"

The Medic looked at him with a squint of disapproval. "Zhe ending of his plumbing, Herr Sniper.  It is fascinating, because zhat vould be vhere an octopus keeps its beak." He lowered the tentacles and pulled his hand out from between them, shaking the slime off his hand. "Vhat a very interesting creature." He mused, staring down at the creature, tapping his chin with his index finger. "So obviously artificial, yet so natural in form and function... zhis is an interesting puzzle indeed."

The Sniper shrugged,  feeling vaguely irked for a reason he couldn’t quite define. "I dunno Doc, I just pulled it outta the tunnels." The Medic nodded, happily snapping off his gloves. "I vill take blood samples and see if ve can begin unraveling zhis mystery."

Sniper found himself awkwardly clutching the creature's hand as the Medic drew several vials of purple blood, feeling a strange need to comfort it after all the manhandling it been through. Patting its webbed claws gently, he almost laughed when the Medic gently put a band-aid on the spot he'd drawn from. "I vill take zhese to zhe lab and see vhat I can discover. Stay vhis him please, in case he wakes up."

"You have a lab?" The Sniper asked incredulously, and the Medic shrugged.

"Not a real vone but it is adequate. I vill be right back." He walked off, leaving the Sniper behind. He let go of the creature's hand after a moment and leaned against the operating table, rolling his shoulders and groaning softly. They should have asked the Heavy for a hand in transporting the octopus man.

Something wrapped around his upper arm, and he yelled and attempted to jerk away from the tentacles suddenly wrapping around his arms and legs, struggling frantically to get away until he was lifted up into the air over the operating table. He was manipulated around to face the creature, who was busily undoing the restraint on its other arm and then sitting up, hissing at him. The Sniper noticed with a pang of fear that it had very sharp shark-like teeth, and it had currently completely immobilized him, giving it the opportunity to use those teeth to take chunks out of his suddenly very precious flesh.

"Medic!!" He yelled before a tentacle covered his mouth, and he was yanked onto the operating table to face the creature, which had puffed itself up and flared its fins in an appropriately menacing fashion. He stared it in it's strange, slitted, unnervingly yellow pupils, refusing to show fear. That's how it worked in the outback, and he hoped that's how it’d work out here.

The octopus man looked at him for a long moment, growling deep in the back of its throat as it slowly unfluffed its fins. It prodded him in the chest with a claw, growl lowering to a warning rumble.

"Who are you?" Its voice sounded hoarse and phlegmy, gills fluttering as it hacked a cough into a closed fist. "Where am I, and what do you want?"


End file.
